Welds are considered to be the weakest point in structures fabricated using welding technologies. This is a result of a number of things coming into play. For example, welds produce poor geometric profiles with respect to fatigue life performance and introduce tensile residual stresses at the same location which are deleterious to metal fatigue life. Furthermore, introducing heat into a base metal during welding can alter the microstructure and properties of a portion of the base metal where the heat is experienced. The area experiencing these alterations is referred to as the heat-affected zone. Heat-affect zone base metal has a weaker relative strength than the base metal and the weld metal.